Camden.
Saturday night, Dec. 8
. . . It is dark & foggy & miserable outside weather—but I have had a
good supper & am sitting up here feeling jolly & thankful enough (yet a
little lonesome)1 . . .
Notes
- 1. Since Whitman wrote
several post cards to Harry after he went to Canada, probably the fragment
reproduced here was sent at this time, since December 8 fell on Saturday in
1883. In a letter to Whitman from Canada on November
28, Harry complained of his work as "turnkey" in Bucke's asylum, asked
for letters of recommendation, and concluded: "Your boy is away among strangers
and a good long letter from his dear friend will do him good." On December 17 Harry asserted: "I am determined to make a hit somewhere and dont forget it.
I havent had a blue spell yet and think I can get along without any . . . With
lots of love and a good old time kiss I am ever your boy Harry." According to a
letter to his father on January 12, 1884, Harry was reading Haeckel and Darwin,
but was not satisfied with his position at the hospital: "The rules of the
Asylum are absurdly strict and of a military form." [back]